Build a Solar Food Dehydrator

[jpak]

http://planetsave.com/ps_mambo/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=7698&Itemid=68

More and more people are recognizing the importance of food quality in their daily lives. The freshest, ripest, tastiest and most nutritious food comes from our own gardens or local farmers. But because these high quality fruits and vegetables are seasonal, you have access to them for only a few weeks or months each year.

What do you plan to eat the rest of the year? Will you rely on industrial foods grown by strangers from all over the world and shipped thousands of miles? With increasing interest in healthy eating, sustainable local food supplies and self-reliance, many people are discovering the benefits of a solar food dehydrator.

Solar food drying is more than a curiosity or hobby — it’s an ideal application for solar energy. Solar radiation passes through the clear glass top of a wooden dehydrator box, then the heat trapped by the box dries the food. The dehydrator also may have an absorber plate inside, which indirectly heats your food and creates a convection current of air that enters a vent at the bottom of the dryer (see illustration). The cool, fresh air that enters the vent heats up, circulates through the dryer, then exits through a vent at the top. As your food dries, moisture is carried away with the hot air. But do solar food dryers work well? Are they practical? Yes, but first let me put this topic in the context of creating a healthy and sustainable food supply.

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[GumboYaYa]

1. And use it to help heat your house in winter.

I built passive solar air heaters that I use to make sun-dried tomatoes in the summer.

[pooja]

2. Also, canning your own veggies... Its not that hard to do. It takes

a little bit of time, but you'll have veggies all winter long. My granmother used to do this all the time. My mother-in-law still makes certain veggies, pickles, relishes, and preserves. We have the internet... the info is there. Even info on where to get the glass jars to can your veggies.

[pooja]

3. also, freeze berries... they will stay... my mom has blueberry bushes

man... we freeze so many berries... muffins and pies all yr long. and good from the garden.

[DrRang]

4. Use a solar oven to cook--the food is delicious, even pork and chicken are

moist and tender. Doesn't heat up your house, so you don't have to use even more electricity running the AC to cool it down again. I work out of a home office, so I can put something on in the middle of the day, and then at dinner time, supper's already cooked. My husband has been making and experimenting with various oven designs. You can also buy them online for about $200. The insulated box with reflectors usually reaches over 300 degrees, and can get as high as 400.

Ever since Darth Cheney said renewable energy is just a way to feel good about yourself, I've wanted to invite him down to stick his head in one of our ovens.

[elocs]

5. I bought a Sun Oven last March for about $200.

I use it whenever there is sun and it does work even if the air temperature is freezing. Currently it gets up to about 300 degrees. I have made virtually anything you can make in an oven except pizza which requires a high temperature. Most cooking temps are for convenience and to get around not having as high a temp that is called for you simply bake it longer. I have baked bread, cake, cookies (they don't burn), chicken (in parts and a whole chicken with a lemon inside), pork roast, meat loaf, and rice as well as using it to warm up food.

The concept of a solar oven is great for third world countries which get a lot of sun, but firewood or material to burn is hard to come by and women may spend hours looking for it. The solar oven may be used to purify and boil water to make it safe to drink. I have seen pictures of huge solar ovens that are used to make bread for the entire village.

My Sun Oven is a Cadillac model of sun ovens and you can find lots of plans online for making them simply out of aluminum foil and a cardboard box. People are very curious about my solar oven and ask about it all the time. I even had a guy knock on my door to ask about it. We need to use this free energy as much as possible.